New York City Friends
Season 1, Episode 1: A New York Welcoming
Starring~ Michelle McCool, Ashley Massaro, Candice Michelle-Barrett, and Torrie Wilson.
There I found myself again; walking down Manhattan as I thought about my worries, all while doing it fabulously of course... except this time, I don't think I had many worries, but I'm positive somebody on this street did.
In her black Marc New York fur coat, Michelle walks down the busy New York sidewalk- But before crossing the street, she first looks to her left and then to her right, she then runs across the street, trying hard to keep her hair out of her face and trying hard to run in her light-pink heels as she rushes through everybody.
I observe people and I observe the world, because I like to tell stories, I try hard to tell them right at least.
Michelle looks in front of her; Where she sees a couple, friends or not, one is female and the other is male. On the other side of the two possible friends, is a married couple who continue arguing through the streets.
I see myself in both of those couples, I was best friends with my ex-husband... I still am in fact, but we also had our fighting days while being married, hence the word 'ex'. I'm not saying anything I don't know, I just like to relate to certain things, through my experiences of course, New York is too big of a City to be guessing around, you either know the story or you don't.
A group of girl-friends walk by Michelle, Michelle turns around and watches the group of girls walk away.
And a few stories I do know, are those of my fabulous friends.
"I can not believe you are living with your ex-husband, it's honestly abnormal to me, how do you do it," Candice says, taking a sip from her drink.
That's Candice; A Wisconsin born woman, who moved here to New York in 1999, which is when I met her, but when I met her, she wasn't nearly as glamorous. Unlike us single girls, Candice is married to lawyer Wade Barrett; the two have a 12 year old son, named Brooklyn. And although she is 40 year's old, she can surely pull off the 30 year old look well. And although she is also a caring mother; she rarely shows her personal feelings and emotions, but she is never one who hides her opinions or feelings about a certain topic, even if it hurts your feelings, some call it being a bitch, but we call it being 'Candice' with a little too much honesty. She just never holds back, even if it's a little too provocative or controversial, she's not afraid to get a little sexual sometimes.
Michelle shakes her head, "It's not abnormal Candice, nothing about it is, it's just two friends living together, simple as that," Michelle states, while pouring dressing onto her salad.
Torrie puts her hand on Michelle's arm, "Well I believe you, but maybe you guys will one day love each other again, maybe the divorce was just a mistake, I never imagined you guys would end up getting a divorce," Torrie admits to Michelle, with her hand still on Michelle's arm.
Now that's Torrie; A small town girl, who was born in Staten Island, but she somehow made her way to the big city, with her blonde locks and her sharp writing skills for a magazine column, she surely made her mark here. Being the youngest out of all of us, 29 years old, she has managed to keep up with our ridiculous moments. She is as sweet as pie, and yes as cheesy as that may sound, which is how Torrie sometimes is; She's cheesy, but only because of her high hopes for love. Because the girl, more than anything else, believes in love, Which is how I met her; she was on a date, when I accidentally dropped my plate of pasta on her, which was back in 2008. Ever since then, I've only seen the innocent good-girl persona out of her; her heart is bigger than this island.
"I love you Torrie, but do you not hear yourself, you're saying maybe too much, Our whole marriage was one big maybe, but our friendship is a positive, we were best friends before we got married and we remain best friends afterwards, which I enjoy," Michelle reassures them, with a smile on her face.
Ashley randomly starts laughing, "All divorced women dream about having a peaceful divorce, but me on the other hand, I am willing to go through a messy divorce, as long as I can say I've at least been married once... I mean what's a girl got to do around here to find herself a man," Ashley says as she laughs.
And that my friends, is Ashley; A 35 year old woman who can surely wow you with her bold unique fashion style, and who knew that back in 2004, when I complimented one of her outfit's, we would end up becoming close friends. But when it comes to love, she is just one big hopeless romantic, who at this point doesn't even look for it anymore. But Ashley has her sense of humor, which is what I love the most about her, she always knows how to make one laugh. She keeps her head up by painting and photographing, which is what she does for a living, but her tough skin also helps her keep her head up, but being born in Brooklyn and all, that tough skin is her childhood that prepared her well. She's always misunderstood, often even feeling like a fool, but nobody will ever understand the complex personality's of Ashley.
"Ashley, you're a lovely girl, I'm sure you'll find somebody," Torrie says giving Ashley a smile.
Michelle nods in agreement, while she eats her salad.
"Well luckily, some women don't have to worry about being divorced at all," Candice says, referring to her 'perfect' marriage.
So there I was, actually going out of my way, to help my ex-husband. But why does that sound so crazy to some people, he's my friend, I still care for him and I still want to help him, why is it so hard for people to believe that... Plus I honestly also want him to move out by the end of the month, but I'm not going to pressure him into moving into some terrible apartment, I want him to be safe and comfortable wherever he does end up moving.
Michelle takes her black fur coat off and throws it onto the nearby couch, "I'm here," Michelle says to Mark, as she walks over to the kitchen.
Michelle takes out a fork and walks over to Mark, "Because I know that you suck with Chopsticks," Michelle jokingly says, while carrying a box of Chinese food for Mark.
"Thank you, Michelle you know me so well," Mark says sarcastically, as the two laugh.
Michelle joins him on the other side of the couch, "I also brought a list of apartments, although they are more on the lower side of New York, I think you'll love them," Michelle says handing Mark the list of apartments.
Before getting the chance to even lift up his fork, Mark takes the listing and reads over it for one short second, "Can I go over it later, If you don't mind," Mark says and then putting the list down.
"Mark, do you even want to move, because it's fine if you just want to be roommate's, this whole divorce happened fast and it's not fair that you're the one who has to move out," Michelle comfortingly says to Mark, waiting for him to respond.
Mark turns to Michelle, "No, it's not that, I just want to be positive that I'll find the right place. It's hard looking sometimes, but if we did become roommates, I would be fine with that too," Mark says with a smile.
Michelle nods to him, "Which is why I'm trying to help you as much, but just know that if you aren't able to find a place, you're always welcome here," Michelle says leaning her head on Mark's shoulder.
But unlike Mark, Torrie already had a small-decent apartment in the Lower East Side and she was about to find another one in The Bronx... except for reasons she wasn't expecting. Torrie blindly agreed to join the guy she recently met for a date at his apartment, but the guy had a very different idea, the guy who doesn't even deserve to be given a name.
"Okay, here we are," The guy says walking Torrie into his apartment.
Torrie looks around, "I see you have a lot of movies, maybe we could watch something," Torrie innocently says, about to start walking to them.
But the guy grabs her arm and pulls her in for a kiss, Torrie lights up; surprised in every which way.
But her heart was just about to get shattered after the guy placed his hands on her butt, squeezing like none other.
Torrie jumps up, "What are you doing," Torrie shockingly yells, shoving him away.
"What else... wait, why'd you even come up here, I don't know what you want, but I thought you were here for sex," The black-haired guy foolishly says, grabbing her again.
Torrie again pushes him off, "Eww, No, we've only been seeing each other for like 3 days," Torrie says, pulling away from him.
"Exactly, I was a gentleman to lay off the sex for a couple of nights, but come on, let's go," The horny guy says, while already walking towards his bedroom.
Torrie fixes her hair and grabs her stuff, "I did not want this, you are disgusting and I am looking for more than just this," Torrie informs his clueless mind, followed by her quickly opening the door to walk away.
While a single woman was getting all of the possible attention from random strangers, on the other side of New York, a whole different story was taking place. A married woman was being ignored by her own husband; A married woman who wouldn't mind getting a little checked out or sex'ed up by the man she married.
Candice stands in her kitchen, next to her husband, who seems to have no idea she's even there.
She leans over to get the small container of sugar and she begins to open it; slowly, so that her husband could maybe finally acknowledge her presence.
But unfortunately for Candice, she is left looking like a fool because he moves and walks right out of that kitchen, not with Candice, but with his little glass of wine.
Candice watches him walk away, she turns away and just like he did to her; she ignores her own feelings and she simply brushes the pain off, pretending all of this never happened.
But the way she stirs her cup of mid-day coffee, tells another story, because she is stirring that small cup of coffee to the point of it even spilling over onto the counter.
And just when Torrie thought the sexual appetite from men was over, she again walked into it, but in this case... well, she just walked.
After experiencing a disappointing let-down from yet another man, Torrie quickly hails a nearby taxi from the top of the staircase.
Torrie waits to see if the Taxi stopped for her and it luckily did, but while walking towards it, she notices a guy on one side of the corner, a guy who definitely also notices her.
A guy who just won't stop staring, so Torrie turns around and looks directly at him, hoping that then he could finally look away.
The guy however continues to stare at Torrie, secretly un-dressing her in his dirty imagination, but Torrie knows exactly that that's what he's doing.
So Torrie quickly turns around and jumps into the Taxi Cab, hoping that the Cab-driver is at least a woman or a gay man.
She looks back through the window where the guy is still somehow staring right through the thick glass window, even winking at her with that same-old stupid arrogant smile she's seen a million times.
And Torrie never again stepped foot on that neighborhood, neither did she ever again wear that red dress; a dress she loved so much, the men apparently did too, but for a whole different reason.
And later that evening over at Park Avenue, Candice was again ignored by her husband, this time however, she was completely left in the dark by him.
Candice stands by the doorway, while watching Wade get dressed up, she finally speaks, "Well you're dressed up nice, where are you going," Candice says to her husband, who stands there sharply dressed and looking at himself in the mirror.
Wade adjusts his tie and then turns to Candice, "I have a late-night meeting at work and after that I will most likely go out with a couple of friends," Wade says, plain and simple, not giving Candice any further information.
Candice doesn't second-think anything, she instead walks over to him, "A guys night out, huh," Candice says running her hands on his back.
Wade again walks off and leaves Candice hanging, "Actually some of the guys are bringing their wive's, but you know," Wade explains, but little does he know how much he's unconsciously hurting Candice.
Candice's fake grin quickly turns into a frown, "Oh," Candice says, plain and simple too, except the word had much more feelings and emotions behind it... more than all of Wade's sentences put together that is.
Wade sprays himself with cologne and then walks towards the door, "Well off I go, bye honey," Wade says walking out of there Park Avenue penthouse, with no thoughts about how Candice might be feeling.
Candice stays there, with the door wide open as she waves, "Bye," Candice yells to her husband, but the 'bye' quickly fades into a miserable moan.
A moan Candice finds herself making a lot lately, sadly that moan is never a sexual one.
Unlike Candice, who was spending her evening alone, Ashley on the other hand was spending it with several people. But Ashley didn't want to be there; Earlier her mom had invited her to a small party she was hosting at a nearby Manhattan hotel, but Ashley knew exactly what was going to come out of it, something she wasn't looking for, yet everybody else seemed to be offering to her... which was love.
"Ashley, this is Tasha's son, I saw him and I thought of you, because the both of you are just single, but ready to mingle," Sable playfully tells her daughter.
Ashley puts her hand on her face, "Mother, I think I'm fine, but thanks," Ashley embarrassingly says, not even bothering to turn around to look at the guy.
Sable grabs Ashley and almost forces her to look at him, "You will do as I say, now say hi to the man, you're being rude," Sable forcibly asserts, waiting for Ashley to introduce herself.
"Hi I'm Ashley, a photographer and an artist, I also own an art gallery over at Brooklyn, so I pretty much live for art," Ashley says to the guy, who rather looks younger than what Ashley expected him to be.
Meanwhile Sable tugs on her arm from the other side, "Ashley, honey, we don't want to intimidate the poor man, tone it down a little," Sable whispers into Ashley's ear.
The young man stays quite, he doesn't know how to follow with a respond, "I'm Todd, I am currently un-employed, but I at least still live with my mom, which is good support," Todd, the young guy, boringly says.
Ashley scratches her head and thinks of a way to slip out of the conversation, without appearing rude, "Nice, how old are you... Todd," Ashley asks him, already angry at her mother for doing this to her again.
"I'm 18, but I carry myself like a 25 year old, right...," Todd questions for a little reassurance, but before Todd can continue, Ashley get's up to walk away.
Ashley reaches her hand out for him to shake it, "Todd, I'm so sorry to leave you, but I actually have somewhere to be, nice meeting you though," Ashley kindly says, while shaking the man's hand to at least show some kindness.
Sable quickly grabs her hand and stops her, "Mother, let go of me," Ashley says, forcing herself out of her mother's grip.
"Ashley Marie Massaro, Don't you dare walk out," Sable yells from the table.
Candice's marriage is one of the all time greatest mysteries, because you either take what little you hear or you either sit around and wonder about it, but even if you do get little knowledge about her marriage... it's usually one big glamorized lie told by Candice herself.
Later that night, Candice found herself walking back and forth her kitchen, while she gossiped and lied with one of her friends on the phone, "Wade isn't like that at all, I'm so blessed to have him, but I feel bad for her, hopefully she can one day find her place with him," Candice says to her friend on the phone.
Right in the middle of that cheap sentence, Candice's son, Brooklyn walked into the kitchen. He rolled his eyes and let out a sarcastic chuckle, because unlike the woman on the phone, he actually knew the truth- That his mother is lying right through her plastic-injected lips.
Candice catches the reaction on his face and she hears his little laugh, so she quickly turns to him and she gives him the famous 'Shut-It' finger; the universal finger-sign used by all mom's, at one point or another.
But before Ashley had the chance to escape, a guy catched her by surprise; the guy happens to be yet another guy who Ashley's mom has previously also tried to set her up with in the past.
Ashley continues to speed-walk, she looks back for a second to check if her mother is following her steps, but her mother is no where to be seen, so Ashley slows her pace down.
And just when Ashley thought the humiliation was over, it sadly came back around when a certain guy recognized her bold memorable style, "Hey, is that Ashley," The two guys from the bar say.
Ashley turns around to see who it could possibly be, she looks directly at them and then quickly looks back away, with a disappointed expression on her face.
"That's Sable's daughter, I went on a date with her, well I was sort of forced to," The guy says to the other, knowing very well that his voice can easily be heard all around the lobby.
Ashley's face instantaneously turns red, "How great," Ashley whispers to herself, not even bothering to turn around again, but instead she pushes the door for an even more dramatic exit.
Ashley walked all the way home with her black non-designer combat boots, but she sure walked in those boots as if they were high-end designer shoes. And not only did she not need a Taxi-Cab that night, but she also didn't need a man or her mother's pity help for that matter.
And back home, I was enjoying my simple peaceful night, something that came very rarely, not only to New Yorker's, but to all people around the world.
Michelle lies in bed, looking up at the ceiling, with her arms on her chest as she listens to her friend Mark talk on about his day.
After talking for minutes, Mark turns to Michelle, "Am I annoying you, I could stop if you want me to," Mark doubtfully questions, even though he loves the fact that Michelle is taking a second to just listen.
Michelle laughs, "No, go on, I enjoy hearing your day-to-day life stories," Michelle says, also loving the fact that Mark is taking a second to just talk.
So Mark carries on with his stories, one story led to another and soon she was sharing too, it was the best damn conversation they've had since their divorce, which happened back in November.
And all I did that night; was lay around and listen to Mark's story of the day, but my story of the day would have to be the one about me simply talking with a friend, a friend who was once my husband.
Special Guest Stars~ Mark 'Undertaker' Calaway, Wade Barrett, Brooklyn Barrett, and Sable.
Written & Created By~ Jonathan Nunez
Published On February 6, 2015.